UK Maritime Patrol, 2016-Triton MRA.1

[AeroplaneDriver]

So I started a RAN AV-8B+ a few weeks ago and after getting the fuselage together on the Hase 1/72 kit I just sort of...lost interest...

So on to a new project, after all this is a hobby, not a job.  

The Kit...



The Story...

By early 2013 a combination of the US refocusing it's global priorities on Asia and the limited availability of Maritime Patrol assets from European NATO partners led even the (SELF EDITED TO COMPLY WITH THE FORUM RULES ON POLITICS) in Whitehall to admit that an Island nation with no Maritime Patrol Aircraft in the inventory was a bit of a joke.  Improving economic outlooks allowed for the order of 7 Boeing P-8As, for delivery beginning in 2018.  This off-the-shelf purchase would allow the UK to once again field a high-level MPA/MMA aircraft.  The 7-aircraft fleet was a welcome addition the RAF inventory, but still it was a far cry from the former Nimrod MR2 fleet, or even the planned MRA4 fleet.  With 7 aircraft it would be difficult to provide full time coverage to UK waters, PLUS the Falkland Islands, where tensions continued to rise, PLUS other overseas commitments, PLUS international maritime obligations, PLUS cover  Trident submarine movements.  

So by mid-2013 a second aircraft purchase was made; 13 Bombardier DHC-8-200 aircraft, to be modified by Bombardier into a MPA configuration. The second hand Dash 8-200 aircraft were purchased at a bargain price, and a fixed price contract for conversion was negotiated with Bombardier, making the entire Dash 8 MPA fleet more affordable than a single additional Poseidon MRA.1 For the MPA role the Dash 8 was fitted with an underfuselage FLIR sensor, SLAR, and a search radar in a retractable radome under the rear fuselage, retracting into the former baggage compartment.  An additional fuel tank was also added in the tail, and a refueling probe was fitted.  Fuselage pylons were fitted to accomodate torpedoes, Sea Skua (and follow on) missiles, or SAR packs.  Four sensor stations were fitted in the cabin, leaving room for a lavatory, galley, and a small crew rest area.  

The Dash 8 will serve in UK waters as local MPA as well as a flight of two permanently deployed to Mt. Pleasant in the FI, freeing the small Poseidon fleet to concentrate on more demanding tasks.  

More details to come as the build progresses...


The Build...

I flew Dash 8-100s and 200s for about 700 hours and was also Simulator Instructor on it.  It's an incredible aircraft, and to be honest the Hobbycraft kit is a bit of a piece of crap...but It's an OK canvas to work with.  I'm not going to do much, if anything in the cabin and cockpit, since it will all be invisible when completed, but I am going to scribe proper panel lines, and add detail such as the deice boots and APU inlet.  The windshield just doesn't look...right...somehow so I may try to improve that, but that will be a few days down the road.  For now it's been a night of scribing!  The 100 and 200 were virtually identical externally, with the only noticable differences being the location of the taxi light (nose on the 100, nosegear on the 200) and the engine breather tubes on the 100, so making this 100 into a 200 will be a piece of cake.  

Suggestions welcome as to the color scheme...I have the Airfix Nimrod kit, so Sqn decals will likely come from there.

I've also been trying to think of a proper name for this aircraft all night, and finally came up with "Triton"...since Triton was the son of Poseidon in Greek mythology it seems fitting...

[PR19_Kit]

It's difficult not to think 'political' thoughts reading your backstory. 

I hope the model build goes better than the UK's current MR capability........

[NARSES2]

Got to be that lovely Hemp scheme Nick. Looking forward to this

[AeroplaneDriver]

Hemp does sound nice on it...I REALLY wish someone made a decent 1/72 kit of the Dash...especially a 300. 

[mkhulu]

 

[lancer]

It's difficult not to think 'political' thoughts reading your backstory. 

I hope the model build goes better than the UK's current MR capability........

Agree 100% with that sentiment!!

Still looking forward to this build it has great potential....

[AeroplaneDriver]

A few update pics of progress so far...I've never done much panel line scribing so doing it from scratch with no raised line to go by is proving to be a challenge, but I'm getting there I think.  

The Dash doesn't really have a lot of visible panel lines, so it's not like there's a ton of them to do.  The nose does have a pair of prominent panels on either side.  The lower ones are maintenance inspection panels and the uppers are hinged doors accessing the avionics compartment if I remember correctly.  To mark them I masked the area with Tamiya tape...



...Then sprayed a thick coat of random color from a rattlecan.  When the tape is removed the paint layer forms a raised area that I then used as a guide for scribing.  



The rest of the fuselage was fairly straight forward.  a few inspection panels below the cockpit, and water/lav service doors on the RH side just aft of the cockpit.  The three small hatches lined up vertically just forward of the windshield are the GPU receptacle, ground coms receptacle and nosewheel steering disconnect for towing.  



There are a row of prominent inspection panels in the wing root...



There are also prominent panel lines on the vertical fin fillet...



And on the fin itself I scribed the deice boot on the leading edge and a rudder actuator inspection panel.



Next I moved on to the engine nacelles...here the kit is particularly weak.  Absolutely NO detail whatsoever, just smooth plastic.  The nacelles have prominent inspection and servicing access panels so it really needs something done.  

First I roughly drew on the panels I wanted to reproduce...



Then scribed them...here is a completed nacelle next to the other untouched one.  I'll use the finished one to trace a template for the other.  



Sorry the pics arent great, but you can get an idea...

I've also been digging through the spares box for suitable lumps and bumps.  I dont want to stray too far from the actual DHC-8-300 MPA currently being delivered to Abu Dhabi, but I want to to be different too...I'm thinking a satellite com dome on the upper fuselage along with lots of antennas, a FLIR turret under the forward fuselage, SLAR antennas on the lower fuselage sides, as well as stub pylons for weapons (currently thinking a torpedo on one side and SAR rescue pod on the other).  I had planned a retractable radome under the rear fuselage where it begins to slope upwards since this is the baggage compartment, but now I may do a thinner search radar radome under the center fuselage with maybe sonobouy launchers in the aft....we'll see.  

Anyway...I'm just about sick of scribing for now...I may start a nice easy build to work on while taking PSR breaks from this thing.  

[NARSES2]

Great attention to detail there Nick

[Pellson]

I'm impressed. Scribing... 

As for references and ideas on sensors - there are quite a few operators out there using Dash-8:s as MPA. Among them the Icelandic Coast Guard, the Australian Customs Service and the Swedish Coast Guard. Attached is an image nicked from the web of one of the Swedish aircraft at delivery. Since then, besides operating over the Baltic, that machine has also been operating out of the Seychelles, making life less fantastic for some Somalian pirates as a part of the EU Operation Atalanta.



Note the "rods" under the belly that I do not know what they are for. Otherwise, the surveillance radar in the black "pregnancy" and the FLIR ball are readily visible.

[AeroplaneDriver]

Thats pretty much the exact radar and FLIR mounts I'm thinking.  INteresting about the rods, that's where I plan to have weapons stubs.  I'd never considered opening up the cargo area for some purpose, but I may consider that.  Thanks for the pic!   

[PR19_Kit]

I've hard of 'direct vision ports' but surely the guy standing in the open cargo door is taking things just a BIT too far! 

[pyro-manic]

Door gunner?

Looking good so far, AD - nice work on the scribing. What about a set of pylons outside of the engines? Maybe two for fuel tanks, and then another pair for Harpoon/Penguin missiles or Stingray torpedoes?

Another thought would be a bulbous nose radome, Nimrod AEW style - as ugly as possible, you know? 

[Amphion]

....Note the "rods" under the belly that I do not know what they are for.

That'll be the SLAR's (Side-looking Airborne Radar).

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Already like the way this is headed. Great work, Nick.

Ian

[Joe C-P]

A good idea, both in plastic and in real life.